Although I’m usually against food products specifically geared towards kids, I have to admit I was lured in by Bitsy’s Brain Food. The fun packaging and interesting veggie-and-fruit flavors (lemon-broccoli, orange-chocolate-beet, sweet potato-oatmeal-raisin, and zucchini-gingerbread-carrot) were intriguing. First Impressions We received the sweet potato oatmeal raisin flavor to try out. The box is small (2.125…
By Randy Rabney Buy now at Lulu $12.00 – paperback $9.00 – download In Delicious for Life, Randy Rabney of The Conscious Plate speaks to all of us regular people who want to cook real food from real ingredients, but aren’t quite sure where to start. She takes this complex subject matter and breaks it…
A FEW DAYS AGO, A CTF FACEBOOK FOLLOWER ASKED A REALLY GOOD QUESTION: WHAT IS A REALLY GOOD PRETZEL? Well, I don’t have the answer to that. But I can explain how I choose a pretzel and share what brands I buy. It is hard to find a good pretzel. There are a lot of…
MY KIDS LOVE WAFFLES. If they could, they would eat waffles for every meal. I was buying Van’s frozen waffles at 6 to a box and my kids were eating 2 at a sitting, so the box lasted three meals. Conventional frozen waffles come 10 to a box, which would have given us a couple…
I’M SURE SOME PEOPLE HAVE NATURAL COOKING ABILITIES. I’M NOT ONE OF THEM. But these four things can be made at home by anyone, no special cooking abilities needed. Homemade tastes better, is better for our bodies, and costs less. A triple win! Food makers want – no NEED – us to buy their products.…
ONE OF THE MOST FRUSTRATING PLACES IN THE SUPERMARKET IS THE BREAD AISLE. A huge wall of bread choices , the store is crowded, your kids are going crazy – what do you do? Grab the biggest, cheapest loaf? Think again. In this video post, Cat explains why to stay away from super-soft squashy “Twinkie…
By Dr. Dina Rose A big thank you to Dr. Dina Rose for giving CTF permission to re-post this fabulous piece about ingredients. Dr. Rose is a food sociologist who writes It’s Not About Nutrition, a blog about the “Art & Science of Teaching Kids to Eat Right.” SEE IF YOU CAN MATCH UP THE…
By Dr. Dina Rose A big thank you to Dr. Dina Rose for giving CTF permission to re-post this fabulous piece about nutrition labels. Dr. Rose is a food sociologist who writes It’s Not About Nutrition, a wildly informative blog about teaching kids to eat right. EVEN THOUGH PARENTS TALK A LOT ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE…
A big thank you to Hemi at Fooducate for giving CTF permission to re-post this great information about Xanthan Gum. HAVE YOU HEARD OF XANTHAn GUM, one of the 30 most popular ingredients used in food products? You’ll find it in salad dressings, sauces, ice cream and also gluten free foods. What is xanthan gum,…
GROUND POULTRY IS A STAPLE IN MY HOUSE. In the summer, we grill turkey burgers and as the weather grows cooler, I make a lot of chicken or turkey chili. Ground poultry is relatively inexpensive, flexible, and has less fat than ground beef. But last time I made chili, sudden visions of Jamie Oliver’s chicken…
THIS MORNING, I READ AN ARTICLE ABOUT BOVINE GROWTH HORMONE (RBGH OR RBST) IN BREYERS, HAAGEN-DAZS, AND BASKIN-ROBBINS ICE CREAM. It made me think about just how hard it is to find a good, real ice cream. Ice cream is milk, cream, sugar, and real flavor ingredients like vanilla or cocoa (not to be confused…
SUNNY D JUST WENT GREEN. And while it is impressive that Sunny D ‘s six manufacturing plants in the U.S. and Spain went to zero waste this year – beating the company goal by three years – this faux juice still rates as a Worst Food. Strike 1: Misleading marketing To start with, if a…
YOU HAVE TO GIVE KELLOGG’S CREDIT. Through some sort of marketing magic, they’ve convinced everyone Pop-Tarts are a breakfast food. Now, if only we could get them to use that marketing magic for good and not junk food, we might achieve world peace. At least Quaker had the guts to come right out and call…
BRACE YOURSELF. I’m about to go after some of your favorite foods – sodas, snacks, treats, and more. These ingredients can also be found in foods like pasta sauces, cereals, and side dishes – things you eat at meals every day. All five have all been linked to serious health problems. In some cases the…
FOOD COMPANIES LIKE BETTY CROCKER WOULD LIKE NOTHING MORE than to perpetuate the myth that cooking is hard and time consuming. Without that myth, they couldn’t sell “food†products like Suddenly Salad. Suddenly Salad is a boxed pasta salad mix that comes in many flavors, each less healthy than the last. The idea is to…
In a grocery rut? Don’t have time to read the ingredients? Don’t worry, CTF has you covered with Buy This, Not That. BUY THIS: Organic jams, jellies, and preserves (like Cascadian Farms Organic Fruit Spread) NOT THAT: Conventional jams jellies and preserves (like Smuckers Jam)
This is a guest post from The Non-Toxic Mom, who blogs often and with enthusiasm about living a non-toxic lifestyle. I REMEMBER ONLY A FEW YEARS AGO when I lived in a place called la-la land. La-la land was fun; you got to eat all sorts of crap with no (obvious) repercussions. Sure, you may…
RECENTLY AT MY THREE YEAR OLD SON’S SOCCER PRACTICE I noticed something that, quite frankly, made me cringe: parents giving their kids sports drinks. The sports drink industry has done a great job of making us all think that if we sweat a little (or in the case of most three-year-olds playing soccer, not at…
SO, WHY DO PEOPLE BUY Lunchables and Uncrustables? Maybe to save time? Well, if you look at ingredient highlights for each below, it’s clear any time saved in making and packing a lunch is completely negated by the sugars, hydrogentaed oils, and ingredients which have been linked to serious health issues. Lunchable: The turkey contains…
IF YOU WATCHED JAMIE OLIVER’S FOOD REVOLUTION, you know one of his biggest beefs with school lunches is the flavored milk. Chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla milks have as much sugar as the same amount of soda. Jamie was told that if only plain milk is offered, kids won’t drink it and they’ll lose out on calcium.…
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